Moscow: In
a quirky mixture of the transcendental and the administrative, a
college in Moscow has commissioned a prayer service to protect it
from reputational problems, including placement on Russia's
notorious "list of inefficient colleges".

The prayer service was commissioned by Moscow Architectural
Institute staffers, the institute's first deputy head Mikhail
Shubenkov said Friday.

It will take place in an Orthodox Christian cathedral in Moscow
next Wednesday.

"We have a lot of various odd troubles, and we're thinking about
how to end the streak of bad luck. Maybe we'll manage it with
god's help," Shubenkov said.

Requests to the divine delivered through prayer service in
Orthodox Christianity customarily include prayers for rain,
health, safe journey or victory in battle. There is no prayer for
reputational damages or problems with the powers that be.

The Moscow Architectural Institute landed on a list of 136 Russian
higher education establishments ruled "inefficient" in a recent
survey by the education and science ministry, published in
November.

The survey was vehemently criticised by the educational community
for its vague and poorly thought-out evaluation criteria, which
discriminated colleges focused on creative occupations such as
architecture or literature.

Education and Science Minister Dmitry Livanov criticised the
inclusion of the Moscow Architectural Institute on the list.

"All indicators confirm that we're the best school in our field,
but here we are on the inefficient college list," Shubenkov said.

"Of course it could have been a mistake and misunderstanding on
the part of the ministry, but our reputation was damaged," he
said.

Only five
of 53 private universities inspected by the University Grants
Commission (UGC) had been found to be in order, Human Resource
Development (HRD) Minister M.M. Pallam Raju said Friday.
Fifty-three of the total 145 private universities had been
inspected, the minister said while replying »

The Palestinian Prime Minister Salam
Fayyad’s Office Tuesday said that Israel arrested some 800,000
Palestinians since the June 1967 War. The office said in a press
statement on the occasion of the international »

Prominent Saudi scholar Sheikh Abdullah Al-Manie,
adviser at the Royal Court and a member of the Council of Senior
Religious Scholars, has demanded Islamic scholars and academies
to deal with some erroneous»

A Palestinian teenager has been shot dead in the southern West
Bank city of Hebron, after Israeli security forces stationed at a
checkpoint opened fire on him. Israeli news source Ynet described
the incident as an
»

Picture of the Day

Tri Service Chiefs paying homage
at Amar Jawan Jyoti, India Gate on the occasion of Navy Day in
New Delhi on December 04, 2012.

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